The judicial reorganization in which Air Belgium has been involved since the end of September will be extended for a second time. The airline announced this on Tuesday.
In mid-September, Air Belgium announced that it would stop passenger flights (to South Africa and Mauritius) at the beginning of October because they were “chronically unprofitable”. The company will now concentrate on freight activities and aircraft leasing.
In order to get the debt burden under control, the company with headquarters in Mont-Saint-Guibert in Walloon Brabant has been in a judicial reorganization procedure since the end of September. Although agreements had already been reached in January “with the majority of potential creditors”, the procedure was extended until May 13.
But even that extra time is not enough to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion. “In April 2024 it became apparent that additional time would be needed,” says Air Belgium. The Walloon Brabant company court therefore approved a new extension until August 20.
Negotiations with creditors
“Air Belgium continues negotiations with the last creditors to reach an agreement and completes the reorganization of its activities, including the replacement of aircraft with budget-friendly variants, the implementation of a new economic model, the reduction of general costs, the partial redeployment of employees to new activities within the company and the renegotiation of commercial contracts,” it said. “Those actions are essential to complete the procedure in the best conditions and achieve our main goal: in particular to compensate every passenger.”
About 11,000 passengers were affected by the suspension of passenger flights and some of them will therefore have to wait a little longer for compensation. According to Air Belgium’s website, tickets purchased with credit cards have already been refunded or are in the process of being refunded. “Refunds for unused tickets and services booked with payment methods other than a credit card are provided from the end of the legal proceedings,” it said.
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